The carpenter of the Sirius, with his crew, had been constantly employed on shore since our arrival in this country, assisting in erecting store-houses, and other necessary buildings.  The ship’s company were variously employed out of the ship upon the business of the settlement.  The scurvy had, for some time past, appeared more amongst the seamen, marines, and convicts, than when on board the ships, which will appear strange, after having enjoyed the advantage of being much upon the land, and eating various vegetable productions; but this the gentlemen of the faculty say is no uncommon thing, particularly when men are under the necessity of continuing the same salt diet; setting aside this, and a few with dysenteries, the health of the people cannot be said to be bad.

About the middle of this month a convalescent, who had been sent from the hospital to gather wild spinach, or other greens, was murdered by the natives; there were two of them together, the one escaped, but was wounded, the other has never been heard of since; but as some part of his cloaths were found which were bloody, and had been pierced by a spear, it was concluded he had been killed.  A short time after this accident, a report prevailed, that part of the bones of a man had been found near a fire by which a party of the natives had been regaling themselves; this report gave rise to a conjecture, that as this man had been killed near this place, the people who had committed the murder had certainly ate him.

Whether any of the natives of this country are cannibals is yet a matter on which we cannot speak positively; but the murder of two other men, as related immediately after this, seems to contradict the conjecture that they are cannibals, as the men were left on the spot where they were killed:  however, the following circumstance may, in some degree, incline us to believe, that although the natives in general do not eat human flesh, yet that that horrid custom is sometimes practised.  I was one day present when two native children were interrogated on the subject of the quarrels of their countrymen; they were particularly asked, what the different chiefs did with those they killed; they mentioned some who burnt and buried the slain, but they also particularly named one who ate those he killed.

Some short time after the before-mentioned accident happened, two convicts who had been employed at a little distance up the harbour, in cutting rushes for thatching, were found murdered by the natives.  It has been strongly suspected that these people had engaged in some dispute or quarrel with them, and as they had hatchets and bill-hooks with them, it is believed they might have been rash enough to use violence with some of the natives, who had, no doubt, been numerous there; be that as it might, the officer who went to look after those unfortunate men, and to see what work they had done, after hailing some time for them without any reply, set his boat’s crew